


Truth, Lies, and Agents

by Loverlylo



Category: Hit the Floor (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Closet Sex, M/M, Misunderstandings, more like resolving a misunderstanding, no beta we die like men, that then gets its own misunderstanding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:14:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23999569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Loverlylo/pseuds/Loverlylo
Summary: Jude's not an idiot. He knows Zero is a manipulative dick. But he told off his own agent and fired him so he could come out by kissing Jude at center court. For all his other machinations, Jude is pretty confident that his boyfriend loves him.Except, of course, Zero didn't do that.And eventually, Jude will find out that their entire relationship is built on a lie.
Relationships: Jude Kinkade/Lucas, Jude Kinkade/Zero | Gideon
Comments: 7
Kudos: 168
Collections: Hit The Floor ▶ Zero / Jude Kinkade





	Truth, Lies, and Agents

Jude has always had something of a love-hate relationship with industry parties. On the one hand, his tendency to fade into the background, even now as EVP of an NBA championship contender, meant that he invariably walked away with a trove of information on everyone present. On the other, they were tedious affairs populated by people he had no interest in talking to, but had to tolerate for the sake of decorum. Case in point: Lucas Schott.

Jude hadn’t seen him since the morning after they slept together, but he wasn’t surprised by that. He had no idea what Zero had said to Lucas that night, but Jude knew his boyfriend. Zero, for all his claims to have not let relationships-- beside theirs, obviously-- be deep, was a possessive asshole. His bedmates were to be discarded on _his_ schedule, and the only thing that ever motivated Zero to advance their relationship was the fear of losing Jude to someone else. Plus, Zero was mean on a good day. Realizing the love of his life was serious about moving on would have turned him to a level of viciousness that Jude felt was best left unknown. 

Still, Lucas was Derek’s agent; Jude was going to have to deal with him for another couple of years. A good working relationship was vital, and the bad blood between Zero and Lucas was not going anywhere. Zero had fired him from the car after their kiss, saying “For reasons that should be fucking obvious, I can no longer trust your judgement.” 

But it’s not like Jude really had much room to talk. Zero had been pissed off at his agent making a play for his boyfriend and reacted accordingly. Jude, though, had pursued Lucas, slept with him, made it clear he was looking for something real, then dumped him by making out with his ex on national TV. He’d never even reached out to apologise for being an ass. He let out a long, resigned sigh. 

“Well, that’s not a happy noise.” A voice remarked from behind him. “What’s the matter, your boy-toy tell you about his herpes diagnosis?”

“Hello, Jelena.” Jude turned and gave her a sharp grin. She, Jude, and Zero were a surprisingly effective triumvirate, one responsible for allowing the Devils to chase another ring this year, but that was all professional. Personally, the kings and queen still hated each other. “No, he’s got a clean bill of health. Someone else must have passed it on to you.”

She scowled but let the barb pass. “Then who peed in your cornflakes?”

Jude gestured at Lucas. “I need to talk to Derek’s agent. We tried dating a couple times, but it didn’t end well, and I want to make sure that there are minimal hard feelings.”

“That’s a pretty low bar.” Jelena assessed him over her whiskey glass. “Why would he be hurt? Before Zero, you always looked like a lost little puppy. How bad could it have been?”

“We slept together and I invited him to meet me at center court after the opening game.” Jude replied, swallowing the last of his own drink, sadly lacking in alcohol though it was.

Jelena nearly choked. “Not _the_ opening game?”

Jude grimaced. “Afraid so.” 

“What did you tell him?” She looked like someone watching a train wreck: utterly captivated by how much worse it kept getting. 

“I didn’t tell him anything. Zero found out and showed up instead. You know the rest.” Jude gave her wry grin as Jelena processed how badly things with Lucas had crashed and burned. “Like I said, it didn’t end well.”

She was quiet for almost a minute, turning over the many ways Jude and Zero had fucked and fucked over one of her best players’ agent. “Jude, if you manage to walk away without him stabbing you with a fork, I will never again doubt that silver tongue of yours. Also, thanks for making me feel better about myself. That level of asshole is something to aspire to.” 

Jelena walked away, muttering about idiot boys who can’t keep it in their pants. Jude got another club soda, this time with vodka, and slowly walked towards what would likely be the most humiliating moment of his life. 

Lucas was talking to a group of people from his old agency, and because the universe hadn’t punished him enough, it appeared that “Zude” was the topic of discussion. God, he hated that nickname.

“Don’t get me wrong; they’re super cute together.” Ashli Cummings from Marketing said. “That besotted look Zero gets whenever they bring him up in interviews practically does my job for me. But how did a sweet guy like Jude end up with the biggest dick in LA?”

“I know.” Ashlee Comings from Accounting added “When my boss banned me from using the coffee pot because I pointed out a mistake he made, Jude brought me coffee every day for three months. Then he stopped because my boss got fired and I got his job.”

Jude grinned. David Worthington was an incompetant, and Ashlee’s loyalty was still paying dividends. 

“See, that’s where you’re all wrong.” Lucas chimed in. “They’re not together in spite of Jude being Jude. It’s because of it.”

Jude stopped, wondering just what Lucas was talking about. Luckily, no one had spotted him approaching. Who needed an invisibility cloak when you could just be Jude Kinkade?

Realizing that everyone was now hanging on his every word, Lucas held court, and was clearly relishing it. “Jude, for all his acumen in business, is a sad little boy who wants nothing more than to be loved. And if he can’t have that, he’ll take whatever scraps come along. We hooked up once, and Jude asked me to meet him at center court.”

Jude felt a slight sense of relief at the realization that Lucas clearly didn’t hold any grudges towards him, even if he was airing their dirty laundry in public. But still, his sense of trepidation was only growing.

“So I’m ducking out at half-time, when I run into Zero. And I know what Zero’s like, so I tell him what happened and that I’m leaving before I have to deal with that. Next thing I know, Zero and Jude are making out on national TV, and all I can think is ‘Zero, you’re a goddamn genius’. He’s now the most famous athlete alive, on top of dating the boss, who, due to his crippling abandonment issues, will never let him be unhappy. And to get that, all he has to do is screw a very sexy man and put up with Jude’s daddy issues and whining about his first boyfriend. Except Zero’s a fucking sociopath who probably thinks Jude being needy and neurotic just makes him easier to manipulate.”

Ashlee snorted into her wine spritzer. “Um, didn’t Zero dump you right after that?” Yes, that had definitely been one of the best moves of his career.

“Oh, yeah. Right afterwards, he called me and said something about not trusting my judgement, but I don’t have any hard feelings. He couldn’t keep me around while dating Jude, and that scene probably tied Jude completely around his finger. Especially if Zero told him he’d warned me off instead of the truth.” Lucas tossed a couple nuts in his mouth carelessly. “The man had a plan, and I respect that. He’s more than welcome to my sloppy seconds.”

Jude’s blood turned to ice. He didn’t want to believe it; he really didn’t. Lucas was a hook-up trying to make himself look important and Zero was his everything. Clearly, he was embarrassed and lying and that’s all there was. 

Except that made no sense. Ashli and Ashlee had no power in this conversation. Presenting himself as the seriously jilted ex would probably have worked even better, considering the doubting looks they were shooting each other. Why make up a story that makes you look like a dick when the truth is plenty sympathetic?

But if he’s telling the truth, then someone did lie. Someone who lied as easily as they breathed. They picked a lie that made them look much better than reality, one that Jude would never go looking for because he wanted to believe it so fucking much.

 _But Zero doesn’t lie to you_ , a voice in his head whispered. _He always told you the truth about himself, from the first time you met in Ohio_.

And that was true. Zero never bothered with his choirboy act on him, instead letting his true colors shine through. They’d met up at strip clubs and brothels, Zero seeming relieved at being able to drop his mask. Jude has always seen Zero for who he was: a charming asshole with cutthroat ambitions and a talent for manipulation, but he’d never turned that on Jude. 

Which meant that when Zero did lie to him, Jude wouldn’t think to be suspicious. And Zero had known that kissing him would cement Jude’s undying loyalty, a loyalty he’d been desperate to have someone earn. Sure, he claimed that kissing Jude hadn’t been planned, but Jude knew his boyfriend. That could easily mean the cogs had only been ticking for half a game instead of months in advance.

Numbly, Jude left Lucas, Ashli, and Ashlee to their conversation. He spotted Zero across the room, chatting with a couple board members’ wives. He seemed to take his role as “wifey” seriously, using his charms to allay concerns about the Devil’s being headed by such an inexperienced trio. 

Jude made his way over in a fog, barely recognizing who was there. “Cassidy, Lyla, it’s good to see you. Do you ladies mind if I borrow Zero for a minute?” He gave them a grin that felt horribly fake, but they seemed to buy it.

“Go right ahead,” Lyla answered. “If I had a boyfriend like that, I wouldn’t let him out of my sight for very long either.” She gave them a lascivious grin and a wink. “There’s a coat closet down that hall that no one uses.”

“Thanks. Zero, let’s go.” Jude grabbed Zero by the arm and headed down the hall Lyla pointed out, throwing Zero in the closet and locking the door. 

He found himself pinned to said door as soon as the lock clicked; Zero biting at his neck and grabbing for his belt. “God, babe. I know you wanted us to behave tonight, but fuck if I’m happy you changed your mind.”

Jude grabbed his boyfriend's shoulders and tried to push him off. “Zero, stop. Stop, I’m serious.” He felt his belt give way and Zero shove his hand down his pants. “Gideon, get off me!”

Zero backed off, shocked by the usage of his real name. “Jesus, Jude. If you wanted a blowjob, you could have just said.” He started to drop to his knees, only for Jude to cut him off.

“What did you tell Lucas?” His voice was eerily steady to his own ears, and even in the dark of the closet, Jude could make out the confusion in Zero’s eyes. “The opening game, when you kissed me, you said you told Lucas not to come. What exactly did you say?”

Horrifyingly, heartbreakingly, Zero struggled for words. “I guess I told him-”

“Or did you not tell him anything?” Jude cut him off. “Did you run into him leaving the game, talk shit about how I’m needy and neurotic, and then tell me you scared him off so you could be my knight in a fucking basketball jersey? Did you realize that for all your hangups about coming out, you were never going to do better than your own EVP, so you made yourself the hero when all you did was scoop up his sloppy seconds?”

The quiet was damning. 

“Fuck you, Gideon. We’re done.” Jude turned to unlock the door, tears in his eyes at being used _again_. Suddenly, though, he found himself shoved up against the door once more; Zero’s eyes piercing into his soul. 

“I told you what I should have done.” Zero growled out. “Because you deserved better than the truth, and I was too ashamed to tell you.”

Jude scoffed. “Right. You were too ashamed to tell me that the guy I was trying to date thought I was pathetic and you took pity on me. Obviously.”

Out of nowhere, Zero surged forward and kissed him. It was dark and possessive, all tongue and aggression that Jude was helpless to deny. Zero wedged one of his thick, muscular thighs between his legs, and Jude broke the kiss to whimper at how damn good the pressure felt. Zero pressed in even harder, causing Jude to nearly collapse with how sweet the pleasure-pain was. 

“I should have told him to fuck off.” Zero whispered in his ear. “When he started on about Oscar wrecking you and you being undateable, I should have broken his damn jaw. And then he left, saying you’re used to disappointment. And I was still too scared to do anything.” He rolled his hips into Jude’s, causing them to moan in unison at the friction. “I was pissed off, but I wasn’t going to do anything. And then I saw you standing there.”

Zero grabbed his chin, forcing Jude to look into his eyes. Even in the dark, Jude could see that they had gone nearly black, though with lust or rage, he wasn’t sure. “I knew it didn’t matter how much I love you because I didn’t deserve you. So, I lied because you are amazing and perfect and I thought that just maybe I could trick you into thinking I was worth your time.” 

Zero kissed him again, but this time it was desperate and pleading. His hands were all over Jude, stroking his arms, scratching his back, and grabbing his ass before settling into his hair. Zero gave a sharp tug, eliciting a small gasp from him and allowing Zero access to his favorite place on Jude’s neck. He went right for his jugular, biting and sucking a hickey the size of Russia onto his neck. Jude groaned, both from the feeling of Zero’s teeth digging in and the realization that there was no way to hide the mark.

“Jude, babe” Zero whispered into his neck “Say it. Please. Please, just say it.”

“Say what?” Jude gasped, practically floating away thanks to Zero’s mouth on his neck and the way their cocks were pressing together, even though their pants. “What do you want from me?”

Zero bit at the hickey again before burying his face in Jude’s shoulder. The words were whispered so quietly that Jude could barely hear them. “Say you forgive me. Say you know I didn’t kiss you because you’re EVP. Say. . . say we’re not over.” 

Zero turned to look at him then, and Jude’s heart nearly broke. He seemed so lost, so alone. And in that moment, Jude did understand. The fact was, he and Zero were both sad little boys who wanted to be loved, but they had no idea what they were doing. So they guessed, and they fucked up, but they still loved each other. If Zero could forgive Jude fucking his agent, Jude could forgive Zero trying to keep Jude from getting hurt. “No, Gideon, we’re not over. On one condition.” 

Zero pulled back, clearly ready to go to Mars in an ugly bikini if Jude asked him to. “You finish that blowjob you offered earlier.”

In a heartbeat, Zero turned from vulnerable and scared to wolfish. “Not a problem, babe.” He dropped to his knees and pulled Jude’s belt out from the loops. In a flash, he’d snared Jude’s hands and belted them together, then placed them around his neck. “Don’t want to lose that.”

With familiar ease, Zero pulled Jude’s cock out from his briefs and swallowed it to the base in one go. The sudden envelopment in Zero’s perfect, warm mouth is enough to cause Jude to choke on his own spit. Then Zero starts sucking, and Jude can feel his eyes roll back in his head. His hands may be bound, but he still manages to work them into his boyfriend's hair, giving sharp, hard tugs exactly like how Zero likes. He lets out a groan around his cock, and the vibrations are nearly enough to send Jude over the edge.

Zero, apparently trying to earn his already-granted forgiveness via an Olympic-quality blowjob, takes this as a cue to go farther. He pulls off Jude’s dick and brings one of his hands up instead, licking and sucking his fingers like he’s starring in a porno and not giving head in a closet at a goddamn office party. Once they’re sufficiently wet, Zero dives right back in, getting Jude’s cock down his throat and shoving two fingers up his ass. It’s rough and the spit isn’t close to enough, but Jude is so strung out that right now he can’t imagine anything feeling better than the nearly raw sting he’s getting right now. He fists Zero’s hair, trying to pull him off, but his boyfriend bats his hands away and swallows Jude’s cum like a champ. 

He stands up with a grin, removing the belt from Jude’s wrists, tucking Jude’s dick back into his briefs, and rebelting his pants while Jude attempts to relearn speech. Zero gives him one last kiss, then goes to unlock the door. “Wait!” Jude calls out, his brain finally working after Zero’s attempt to suck it out. “You can’t leave.”

“Why not?” Zero asks that easy way of his that most assuredly means he has plans cooking. 

Jude gestures vaguely. “Your hair and your cock. You look like--”

“Like I just won the blowjob championships? I know, and I don’t care, because the only place we’re going is home to fuck for two days straight.” Zero gave Jude his most innocent grin. Between that and how his voice sounded like, well, like he’d just given Jude a championship blowjob, he was somehow getting hard again. “Maybe one quick detour.”

They quickly made their way through the mansion, making their goodbyes to people too polite to acknowledge that the captain and EVP of the Devils had just fucked in a closet and were clearly on their way home for rounds two through four. That is, until Zero saw Lucas. He instantly shifted directions, heading towards the crowded area where Lucas was charming his way through the players.

Without breaking his stride, Zero gripped his shoulder, turned him around, and broke his nose with one clean punch. “That’s for insulting Jude before the opening game last year.”

He pulled back his fist and punched again, this one hitting his jaw so hard that there were audible cracks. “That was for insulting Jude tonight, at a party put on by the goddamn Devils organization.”

Zero pulled back his fist again, but this time dropped to land it straight in Lucas’s family jewels. “And that was for being so fucking stupid that you couldn’t figure out that me and Jude hooked up months before you got a chance at him. How’d you like my sloppy seconds?” He patted Lucas’s face, then stood up. 

He sauntered over to Jelena, a shit-eating grin locked firmly in place and seemingly immune to the whispers swirling around them. “Jelena, I hate to do this, but Jude and I need to leave early. Something came up.”

Jelena gave his raging hard-on a cool glance, then flashed Zero a smile of her own. “I can see that. Go right ahead, you two already made the rounds. Though, Jude” she turned and called over her shoulder. “Please be careful where you stick your dick. I need Zero capable of calling plays in Friday's game. And, you know, able to walk.”

Jude joined his boyfriend, keys already in hand. “Shouldn’t be an issue. After all, I don’t need to do either of those things. And look: no forks.”

On that victorious note, the two made their way out of the party. Jude heard Jelena behind him, and could practically see her as she raised her glass in a mock toast. “I’ll give them this: those two are always on-brand. Devil’s Nation, rise up.”


End file.
